Women lack resources in developing world
LONDON, U.K. (Thomson Reuters Foundation) — Women could increase yields on their farms by more than 20 percent if they had the same access to land, credit, advice and markets as men, says a leading land rights researcher.
This would boost total global agricultural production by up to four percent, added Elisa Scalise, director of the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights.
Women produce nearly half of the food grown in the developing world, yet women farmers receive only five percent of all agricultural extension services, including credit, training, marketing and research, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization.
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The UN’s World Food Programme says women farmers could help reduce the number of hungry people in the world by up to 150 million people if they were given more resources.
Campaigners have argued for years for more investment in women farmers and better recognition of their land rights.
Scalise said the situation for women farmers had improved in many countries and regions.
“The global trend is positive,” she said.
“Regional bodies and national governments are at least talking about women’s land rights now, and just five to 10 years ago this was not the case.”
For example, Kenya used its 2010 constitution to provide protections for female property rights.
In China, where women are estimated to account for more than 70 percent of the agricultural workforce, the need to protect women’s land rights was, for first time in its modern history, included in a major policy document released earlier this year.
Scalise said research shows that land does better under the management of women farmers.
For example, capital investment in rural Vietnam is higher when women hold land title, and in Rwanda, female-headed households are more likely to invest in soil conservation measures.
David Norman, senior manager for sustainable development for SABMiller, a multinational beer company, agreed that improving women’s land rights can boost economic growth.
“There is a return on investment” when female farmers are empowered, he said.
Landesa says women who own land have 3.8 times more income than those who don’t, their children are 33 percent less likely to be severely underweight and they are eight times less likely to face domestic violence.
Yet women are still battling to secure their land rights.
“We have a real challenge that could push back women’s rights to land — the commercialization of agricultural land,” said Mark Goldring, the chief executive officer of OXFAM.
“Land equivalent to eight times the size of the U.K. has been sold to major companies in the last decade,” he said.
“As agriculture becomes more commercial … the traditional status of women gets worse.”
Thirty-seven of the 143 countries surveyed by the World Bank earlier this year still have discriminatory land laws in place.
Changing this needs to “start with understanding that land rights are part of a cultural system, and that cultural systems also define gender roles,” Scalise said.
“That link is critical.”
She said having a strong champion in government helps, along with providing special effort to ensure women can attend public forms and decision-making events.
“There must be political will for putting technical and budgetary resources behind ensuring that the needs of both women and men are integrated into land rights reform programs,” Scalise said.
